Blue: The LAPD and the Battle to Redeem American Policing (64 page)

“by far” the worst
: “DNA Expert Taints Juice Prosecution,”
NYDN
, August 3, 1995; “Contamination Chronic at LAPD Lab, Expert Testifies,”
LAT
, August 3, 1995.

impound yard
: “Evidence,” AP, October 3, 1995; “List of the Evidence in the O. J. Simpson Double-Murder Trial,”
USA Today
, October 18, 1996.

“genocidal racist”
: “Cochran Calls Fuhrman ‘Lying, Genocidal Racist,’ ”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, September 28, 1995; “Families’ Anger Erupts Outside the Courtroom,”
LAT
, September 29, 1995.

hadn’t used the “N” word
: “Trial Gets Boost, Society Gets Blemish from Fuhrman Tapes,”
Baltimore Sun
, September 1, 1995; “F. Lee Bailey: ‘I Had No Idea There Were Any Tapes,’ ”
Chicago Tribune
, October 18, 1995.

Howard University
:
NBC News
, October 4, 1995; “Think Simpson Was Guilty? You Must Be Multiculturally Skewed,”
Deseret News
, October 15, 1995.

“John and Ken”
: Author heard on radio, 1995; “The Simpson Murder Case: Twists and Turns Keep Radio Fans Talking About Simpson,”
LAT
, June 18, 1994; “The Simpson Verdicts: Callers to Talk Radio Span the Dial with Debate,”
LAT
, October 4, 1995; “They’re Driven to Entertain,”
LAT
, August 4, 1996.

Brien Chapman . . . ordering a Bloody Mary
: “Cop Talk,”
LA Weekly
, October 6–12, 1995.

“Everybody here is
so
pissed
”
: Ibid.

Katherine Mader and Willie Williams, May 1996, Parker Center

Appointed IG
: “First Inspector General Chosen to Police LAPD,”
LAT
, May 29, 1996; “The Inspector General,”
Buzz
, March 1998, 50.

UCLA and UC Davis Law
: “First Inspector General Chosen to Police LAPD”; “The Inspector General,” 52.

co–defense counsel for . . . Hillside Strangler
: Ibid.

Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office
: “First Inspector General Chosen to Police LAPD.”

“Williams is a reform chief
”: Katherine Mader interview.

string of complaints
: Ibid.

“you can pick out
[
positive
]
qualities”
: Ibid.

“declined by 43 percent”
: “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”; “The Inspector General,” 52.

Mader very publicly disputed Williams’s claim
: “Say Goodbye to Hollywood.”

“Glacial”
: “Panel Takes Over Monitoring LAPD Reforms,”
LAT
, December 21, 1994; “The LAPD: Is Williams’ Mission an Impossible One?”
LAT
, February 26, 1995.

“Inexcusably slow”
: “Panel Takes Over Monitoring LAPD Reforms.”

Bill Bratton and Rudolph Giuliani, Monday, April 15, 1996, New York City

Bratton . . . celebrated by
Time
magazine
: “One Good Apple.”

“it’s the mayor’s department”
: Bratton and Knobler,
Turnaround
, 285.

Giuliani’s enforcer, Deputy Mayor Peter Powers
: “For Giuliani and Green, It Might as Well Be 1997,”
NYT
, June 11, 1994; Bratton and Knobler,
Turnaround
, xxxi–xxxiii.

Bill Bratton . . . forming his own security firm
: Bratton and Knobler,
Turnaround
, 308; “Bratton: The Making of a Police Visionary.”

When the 9/11 planes hit
: William Bratton interview; Rikki Klieman interview.

James Lardner . . . “as leader and archetype of a generation”
: “The Commish,”
NYT
, February 1, 1998.

by July of 1995, for example, crime had decreased nationally by 1 percent
: Bratton and Knobler,
Turnaround
, 290.

but by 16 percent in New York City
: Ibid.

over the next twenty years, crime . . . by over 75 percent
: “America’s Real Criminal Element: Lead,”
Mother Jones
, January/February 2013; “Prison Population Can Shrink When Police Crowd Streets,”
NYT
, January 26, 2013.

In 1994 . . . 1,561 homicides in New York City
: “Reported Crimes Continue to Show Decline,”
NYT
, October 2, 1996.

931 in Chicago
: Chicago Police Department,
2008 Murder Analysis in Chicago
, 2.

and 850 in Los Angeles
: “LAPD Chief Beck: City Safer Than It’s Been in Decades,”
LADN
, January 13, 2014.

By 2002 . . . Chicago recorded the highest number of murders
: Chicago Police Department,
2008 Murder Analysis in Chicago
, 2.

Los Angeles had 647
: “Crime in L.A. Drops for 3rd Year in a Row,”
LAT
, December 21, 2005.

New York had just 587
: “Fewer New York Murders, and Even Fewer by Strangers,”
NYT
, November 22, 2007.

New York City had 75 percent fewer homicides, robberies, and auto thefts in 2012
: Zimring,
The Great American Crime Decline
, 106.

“In New York . . . we changed the culture of permissiveness”
: “The Reformer, on Honeymoon,”
LAT
, January 19, 2003.

Rafael “Ray” Perez and Nino Durden, Sunday, October 13, 1996, 18th Street Territory, Rampart Division

light-blue Taurus
: “One Bad Cop.”

large, low-hanging tree
:
Ovando
, BA139642, “District Attorney’s Direct Examination of Rafael Perez,” 58 and 61.

9mm Berettas
: Ibid., 59 and 67.

radios
: Ibid., 67.

flashlights
: Ibid., 66.

binoculars
: Ibid., 78.

radio earpieces
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999.

lifted a board
: Ibid.

briefed at roll call
: Ibid.

observation posts
: Ibid.

corner window
:
Ovando
, BA139642, “District Attorney’s Direct Examination of Rafael Perez,” 65 and 68.

found a guy called “Nene”
: Ibid.

Javier Ovando, a member of the notorious 18th Street Gang
:
Ovando
B110980, 2; “One Bad Cop.”

They had thrown him out of the building the night before
: “One Bad Cop.”

Handcuffing the two men
: Ibid.

Nene, who left immediately
: Ibid.

a loud knock on the door
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999.

“Police officer, drop the gun!”
: “Scandal Shows Why Innocent Plead Guilty,”
LAT
, December 31, 1999.

double-action Beretta
:
Ovando
BA139642, 59.

firing off three rounds
:
Ovando
B110980, Ex. A, 2.

Ovando . . . very different, very real story
:
Ovando
BA139642, 49;
Ovando
B110980, Ex. B, 2.

shot him in the chest
:
Ovando
, B110980, “Declaration of Brian Tyndall,” September 16, 1992, Ex. B, 2.; “D.A. Set to Charge Officer in Shooting.”

pulled Ovando off the floor by the front of his shirt
: “D.A. Set to Charge Officer in Shooting,”
LAT
, July 28, 2000.

Ray . . . fired a round into the side of his head
:
Ovando
B110980, Ex. B, 2.

CRASH’s secret radio code
: “Secret LAPD Testimony Implicated Nine Officers,”
LAT
, February 27, 2003; “Police in Secret Group Broke Law Routinely,”
LAT
, February 10, 2000.

CRASH officers understood . . . everybody had a role to play
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999.

Once the story was decided on: Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 17, 1999.

The sergeant in charge that evening
: Ibid.; “One Bad Cop.”

The tale agreed upon . . . Javier Ovando . . . burst into the room
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999.

“eliminate the police from
[
18th Street
]
territory”
:
Ovando
B110980, Ex. A, 3.

Durden did all the explaining to the sergeant
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999.

filthy red rag
: Ibid.; “One Bad Cop.”

Tech .22 . . . serial number Durden had previously scraped off
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999; “One Bad Cop.”

banana clip
:
Ovando
B110980, Ex. B, 1.

Durden . . . placed the weapon next to Javier Ovando’s fallen body
:
Perez,
BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999; “One Bad Cop.”

where Ray needed to be when he fired
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 17, 1999.

a stuffed chair lying on its back
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 10, 1999.

shooting position . . . consistent with the rest of it
:
Perez
, BA109900, “Statement of Rafael Antonio Perez,” September 17, 1999.